I imagine that the diabetes group might have more people who have more experience with this issue to offer you more opinions.
The internet is so slow that I can't see if you are a member of that group

They would have some suggestions for dealing with pre diabetes too.
Maybe even some ideas about what to do to stop the advancement.

When my aunt was pre-diabetic, she simply refused to follow doctor's orders and ended up on injections. She is losing toes and working on losing her feet now. Very sad!

But I am sure you can avoid those complications with some advice from many others with this disease.

Pre-diabetic means your blood sugar tested at above 99. Funny, I remember high blood sugar as being above 140 as late as 1999. Then they lowered it to above 125, then to above 110, then to above 100, and now it's above 99. Looks to me like big pharma wants more people taking their drugs. Cha-ching-cha-ching...

As long as you keep your cut clean and bandaged, you should be fine.

I'm sorry your toe is so painful. Gentle hugs sweetie.

keeska - That is scary! VERY scary.
What is happening in this world?

Doctors pushing cholesterol lowering meds on anyone and everyone more and more......I weigh under 120lbs and my total is under 150...
GREAT right!
The "bad" is higher than the "good" and my doctor actually suggested taking these meds. Don't worry about liver damage "THEY are totally safe!" he said. RIGHT!

They keep lowering sugar levels for pre-diabetic.

What else are the pressing on us to take that we may not need??/

Sorry, did not mean to hijack your thread.
I will go now!

Actually your considered pre-Diabetes if your fasting blood glucose level is between 100 - 125 on 2 separate random tests and have the additional risks for Diabetes such as being overweight and over 45, or under 45 and overweight and have high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides, a family history of diabetes, or belonging to an ethnic or minority group at high risk for diabetes.

You may also have the symptoms of Diabetes, i.e. unusual thirst, frequent urination, blurred vision, extreme fatigue, frequent infections, cuts/bruises that are slow to heal, tingling/numbness in the hands/feet, recurring skin, gum or bladder infections. These guidelines come from the American Diabetes Foundation by the way.

Not everything is about evil Dr.s and evil pharmaceutical corporations wanting to become rich and force us to take more meds.

Megan, keep your cut clean, with soap and water, keep the ointment on it and a bandaid and it should be fine. If you notice it is not healing, or getting red, painful or having a drainage, go see your Dr. about it.

Kat

Megan,

I educated many people on diabetes for a long time in my career as an RN and I can tell you that the simplest answer is that bacteria love sugar. This is why people with diabetes have an increased risk of infection especially if their blood sugars aren't well controlled; slower healing wounds, etc.

Kat gave you great advice on what to look for as far as infection. If you have redness, swelling, increased pain, drainage and/or fever you should go to your doctor. Keep it clean and dry. Apply ointment for 3 days and after that clean with soap and water and keep it dry. Do NOT submerge in a pool or tub until healed. Showers are fine. (((((((((((((((Hugs))))))))))))))))00

The question I think you asked was why does diabetes make you heal more slowly or make cuts more dangerous...it has nothing to do with sugar directly but what the increased sugar has done to you body systems. The medical reasons are as follows


Poor circulation If you have had diabetes for a long while, you probably have fatty deposits in your arteries that slow down blood flow causing poor circulation. Poor circulation can limit the amount of oxygen and healing nutrients that reach a wound.

Nerve damage Diabetes can lead to neuropathy, a form of nerve damage that causes numbness in the feet. If you don't feel the skin of your feet well, you won't notice things like your shoes rubbing against one area and causing a callus to form on the bottom of your foot. The callus puts pressure on the deeper layers of the skin. In many cases, this pressure causes a blood blister to form under the callus. The blood blister softens the callus from the inside. The center of the callus then deteriorates and becomes an open sore.

Immune system issues To heal a wound, your body needs to clear away dead and damaged tissue and build new skin cells. Your immune system handles this job. But immune cells do not work efficiently when blood sugar levels are high. The reasons are complicated. The mixture of enzymes and hormones that are made by your immune system seems to be off from what is usual. Another reason immune cells don't function as well as usual might relate to the water content of the cells. High sugar levels in the blood can cause water to soak into some tissues and seep out of others in unusual ways. If they don't have their usual water balance, cells may not function perfectly to heal a wound.

Infection It is common for a wound to develop an infection, particularly in a person with poorly controlled diabetes. An infected wound has to be treated before it can begin to heal.


This comes from http://healthyliving.msn.com/diseases/diabetes/high-blood-sugar-and-slow-healing-wounds-1.

Good answers yeay!!!

I scanned your words and missed the utility knife part. Those are razor blade sharp. The smoother the cut, the better it will heal.

A couple day of antibiotic should be enough. After that the moisture from the antibiotic will cause the skin around the wound to swell preventing the cut from healing. So try to keep it dry and covered.

Night time, just before going to bed, is best for putting on a very small amount of antibiotic on the wound uncovered. That will kill bacteria from the day and allow it to dry and heal.

If you see signs of infection, hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball will add oxygen to the wound killing bacteria and helping it to heal over.
Bubbling is generally dried blood not necessarily infection.

There are great band aids now with anti biotic right on them. These are great for ensuring the proper amount of anti biotic to help healing.

Last week when I lost footing on the hill and my shoe fell off, I planted my foot hard on a stump of tree slicing open my foot really bad, ragged, with all sorts of wood and splinters all over.
I used those three days, then let it be dry during day and little anti biotic at night time. It healed better than my hands when they are cut.

Don't use Hydrogen Peroxide on cuts.

When theres a cut, says dermatologist Robert Kirsner, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Dermatology, full-strength hydrogen peroxide can be toxic to skin cells, impeding healing. The chemical reaction (and bubbling) that occurs when hydrogen peroxide hits the skin isnt only cleaning the woundits killing healthy cells. And that stinging? This stuff hurts because its wiping out healthy tissue.

Back in the day, they used Hydrogen Peroxide on everything...but now you just use plain old soap and water.